Kubiak calls Cushing injury “a big blow,” won’t call block dirty

Texans coach Gary Kubiak confirmed today that linebacker Brian Cushing has suffered a torn ACL and will miss the remainder of the season.

“It’s what we thought, obviously, he tore his ACL and we lost him for the year, and he’s going to have surgery in probably two or three weeks when the swelling goes down,” Kubiak said at his press conference. “It’s a big blow for our team. You feel so bad for Brian, because he’s worked so hard, he’s playing so well, he’s the leading tackler on our team.”

“That’s in the league’s hands,” Kubiak said. “It doesn’t change the fact that we’re sitting here today having to deal with losing a heck of a player. I’m more concerned with that.”

Kubiak expressed confidence that backup linebacker Tim Dobbins will play well in assuming Cushing’s spot in the starting lineup. And he expressed confidence that Cushing will work hard and return to the field as strong as ever.

As a Jet fan, I don’t like the block and never liked cut blocks. I think the league should crack down on it.
However, there is a reason that he will not and cannot call the block dirty. It’s because his zone blocking scheme specializes in cut blocks and defenders screamed about it for years with his teams (Texans and Broncos). He is not is a position to critique this block

Its to bad no one was really talking about this last night! They were still trying to talk to Rex at his Presser about Sanchez and Tebow! How does the head coach Kubiak or even Watt not get any pub on Monday night after the game for a 5-0 team but talk to a trash 2-3 team? No interview for Kubs or Watt from the winning coach?

Of course it was dirty. He wasnt even near the play, not to mention he wasnt looking. Credit Kubiak for not whining like a packer. Also shows the character of the Jets players and coaching staff. What goes around comes around, so hopefully they continue to get theirs.

That wasn’t close to a legal hit. Helmet was not in front of the defender, he was well behind and to the side. The reason those hits aren’t legal is precisely because they force the leg and knee to move unnaturally side-to-side causing the type of damage we see with Cushing.

Am I the only one who saw the replay? The initial hit was to Cushing’s thigh which is legal. Only when Cushing got upended did the Slauson’s helmet come into contact with Cushing’s knee and cause the injury. I’m not a fan of that kind of low block because although legal, could lead to injury, which it did. But just because the Houston media thinks the play was dirty doesn’t mean it was.

“A big blow” is probably the wrong message to send to the team. As a Texans fan, I know there is depth at ILB with Tim Dobbins and Bradie James as capable starters while Mister Alexander is a capable backup. Brian Cushing is a good player but he does not make every tackle for the Texans.
Injuries are part of football so I will not waste time talking about whether or not it was a dirty block. I would have preferred if Matt Slauson was in front of Brian Cushing instead of coming from behind him but that does not change the status of the injury. A zone blocking scheme should not be illegal as it is used by alot of teams like Army, Georgia Tech and many others professional and college teams. Mike Hemmindinger used it in Tennessee with Chris Johnson before his unfortunate death. Regardless of your viewpoint, zone blocking is a legal part of football. Let’s focus on the depth on the roster and on the Packers. Go Texans.

Cut blocking is a LEGAL NFL block between where the tackles line up and 3 yards on either side of the line of scrimmage. This block occurred about 4 yards to the outside of the tackles. That makes it ILLEGAL. Get it, yet? Stop all the misinformation. If you don’t like the legality of cut-blocking, don’t blame the Texans, Redskins, Raiders, etc. Blame the league.

This is the only actual injury to a player on the team facing the Jets where I’d say it’s dirty. I’m not a fan of cut blocking at all and even with cut blocks being legal this one is pretty dirty.

And before the “hurr hurr Jets bounty hot sauce” morons show up, if the team was instructed to deliberately hurt a player, why not go after Watt, who easily beat our offense over the head all night? It was just a stupid play by Slauson.

Watch now as the 11 remaining teams on the Texans’ roster secretly breathe a Cushing-sized sigh of relief, all-the-while expressing their genuine sympathy that no one wants a player to be hurt this way.

Yes, the Texans use legal cut-blocking schemes, as do many of the other elite teams in this League. Yes, Cushing was illegally chop-blocked. Yes, the refs missed the call.

And YES, the lineman should be fined and/or even suspended for this heinous act.

You’ve ruined this man’s season, and put a potentially massive dent in his career. And there should be more hell to pay than just being shamed on sports blogs for 24 hours.

Kubiak may not call this block “dirty” but ANYONE who watched it WILL. There was absolutely NO REASON what so ever to throw that block that way. Cushing was hardly even in the play, a simple shove would’ve been more than enough.

Also, Good on Clay Mathews for calling out the NFL on this. He tweeted about how the league “protects players…” yet they only seem to be offensive players. This cut blocking that goes on is ridiculous. There is absolutely no place for cut blocks anywhere other than right on the line of scrimmage. Linemen on linemen anywhere else it should be outlawed and further more anything anywhere near the side or behind should be taken as seriously as a hit on a defenseless receiver. Since, in Cushing’s instance he could not protect himself from this type of block. Something needs to be done other than this “with in 3 yards of line of scrimmage..” and “not when engaged by another player..”, its just NOT enough protection for these guys.

Does it really matter if he is blocked from the front or the back? You can blow a guys knee out just the same. Chop blocking should be band but the NFL knows all to well that high scoring games attract fans, so they continue to bend the rules in favor of the offense even if it comes at the expense of players health.

dwheel79 says:
Oct 9, 2012 6:43 PM
Zone blocking ur facing the o lineman u see it coming… Getting cut from behind n at the knees u have no chance.. Dirty is all there is to say..
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Come on, does anyone here believe that if the guy who’s year was ended by this was named Aaron Rodgers or one of the Manning Brothers instead of Brian Cushing, that the NFL wouldn’t move to change the rule?

They’d act faster than they did after that Monday Night Football call with the Replacement officials.